


King of (non)conventional

by rivermoon



Category: The Greatest Showman (2017)
Genre: Big brother!Phillip, Families of Choice, Phillip is initially awed by PT but lbr that fades real fast, and then he's just left with exasperated-with-irresponsible-uncle-but-still-inexplicably-fond
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-10
Updated: 2018-01-10
Packaged: 2019-03-03 02:56:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13332009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rivermoon/pseuds/rivermoon
Summary: Phillip, despite his protests, can and does run away to join the circus. He's ready to to lose his family and inheritance, but luckily manages to find a whole new one along the way.





	King of (non)conventional

**Author's Note:**

> Because I needed more of Phillip's adventures joining the circus, and how he manages to endear himself to the whole cast in record time. 
> 
> I also want to know how he steps up as ringmaster after Barnum's head inflates and he runs off with Lind. Really, Phillip Carlyle is a top bloke and is 100x more committed to this goddamn circus than even the guy with his name in the title (lookin' at you, P.T.)

Phillip knows who P.T. Barnum is, from the moment the man introduces himself on the steps outside the theatre. 

Phineas Taylor Barnum, Prince of Humbug, entrepreneur, conman and fraudster (depending on who you asked). Here was a man who had defrauded banks and made a fortune from conning audiences - and always, somehow, convinced them to come back for more. Whichever way you spun it, the man had something special. 

That alone was fascinating, and so Phillip only hesitates a moment before accepting Barnum’s offer of a drink.

*

> “You run with me  
>  And I can cut you free”

Ah, thinks Phillip, this man is dangerous. Ask anyone, and they would have said Barnum’s circus was an impossible venture. No bank would loan the money for such an insane idea, and nobody would go to see it. But it was a success anyway. It was foolish to think that he had achieved this with mere trickery and flattery - there were plenty possessed of those talents, and it had never carried them to the heights Barnum had achieved. Barnum seemed to know, instinctively, just the right thing to say to the right person. There was something piercing in his gaze that allowed him to see the suppressed and unfulfilled desires and ambitions of those around him. This, it seemed, was the true power behind P.T. Barnum’s silver tongue.

> “Don’t you wanna get away  
>  From this same old part you gotta play?”

Even being aware of Barnum’s skills cannot free Phillip from the lure of those words. He is so, so sick of everything - the shallow parties he is obligated to attend, with the countless vapid and giggly socialites attempting to hook a high-society husband. The successful, dutiful playwright son, destined to marry some wealthy heiress with as little interest in him as he has in her - all in the name of family status, of course. Or, the second option - a “socially acceptable” scandal involving running off with one of the shallow socialites he so despises.

Phillip shakes his head, discarding these unwelcome thoughts. Barnum may have struck the truth with his words, but his proposal is still utter madness. Phillip may be utterly tired of his place in the world, but he is in no position to change it. What choice does he have? Phillip knows he is a good sight more privileged than many others, being born into his kind of prosperity. How could he possibly have the audacity to throw that all away? Phillip will play his part in the world and (he supposes) will be grateful for it. Perhaps, in time, he will even be able to scrape together something approximating happiness.

> “Don’t you know that I’m ok  
>  With this uptown part I get to play”

A lie, Phillip thinks sardonically. From his raised eyebrow, Barnum realises it too. Of course, what are the chances of getting a lie that blatant past a lie-smith like Barnum? The man breathes falsehoods and exaggerations. Yet somehow, paradoxically, the ones he speaks somehow always lead back to the truth.

> “Now is this really how you like to spend your days  
>  Whiskey and misery, parties and plays?”

Phillip winces - now that had struck home. Barnum had noticed then, how Phillip spent so much of his time chasing the bottom of a bottle. It was hardly a pleasant pastime, but it dulled his thoughts and, in recent months, had been his only method of making the vapid nature of upper class mingling bearable. How depressing, a privileged man drowning the emptiness of his high-brow life in champagne and whiskey. 

> “I got what you need so come with me and take the ride  
>  To the other side”

Barnum jumps onto a table and executes a dance with no small amount of flair. No wonder his show is so popular; the man is captivating. Barnum’s graceful movements shift into a mockery of a bow, and he locks gazes with Phillip as he sits, stunned, leaning against the bar. Phillip knows, logically, that Barnum is a conman; so how does he inspire this much trust, this much faith? Despite himself, Phillip wants to take that outstretched hand, and the unspoken promise in his eyes of something _colourful_.

He thinks about the life he’s going back to, the emptiness and expectations, and suddenly cannot find the will to do it anymore. 

Phillip swallows against his suddenly dry mouth and steels himself for a decision that will change his life.

> “Well it’s intriguing but to go would cost me greatly  
>  So what percentage of the show would I be taking?”

They’re bantering, and haggling over payment should not be this electrifying. Phillip finds himself grinning at Barnum, looking straight into a smile that matches his own. For all he tells himself that P.T. Barnum is a salesman and a fraud, Phillip finds himself believing in the man’s kindness.

> “Ten.”

They shake on it, and while Phillip knows nothing material has changed yet, he still feels as though a weight has been lifted from his shoulders.

> “Suddenly we’re free to fly  
>  To the other side”


End file.
